38
simply be extended nationally. “We can afford here in some respects to have a struggle that takes
five years, six years, because we have critical mass already,” reflected Arnodo.
But for a labor movement that is just nationally fighting to survive, it’s a big question: How
do you deal with the fact that even when you win, it takes you five years to get 1,000
workers, or 2,000 workers? That’s pretty tough, and as a national labor movement we’ve got
to figure out strategies that obviously bring people in at a faster pace.
100
What those strategies might be remains elusive. What seems clear is that the answer to the
scholars’ question—what are the factors that have enabled labor organizers to be so unusually
successful in Las Vegas?—points to a disappointing answer to the organizers’ question—can the
results be replicated elsewhere? The leverage combination available to HERE Local 226 is
extraordinarily unusual. There simply is no other place else in the United States with the same
structural advantages. Thus while the dual obstacles of employer hostility and ineffective labor laws
can be effectively circumvented in some local settings, they still foreclose the possibility of
organizing on scale nationally and reversing labor’s decline. Organizers cannot count on being dealt
a royal flush every time.
99
Ibid.
100
Arnodo, interview.
Convention